Deployment of Wi-Fi mesh networks is becoming prevalent. “Wi-Fi” is short for wireless fidelity and is meant to be used generically to any type of IEEE 802.11 network. Some Wi-Fi mesh network applications include providing broadband access in metro-areas (Metro-Wi-Fi), for underserved areas, and campus environments. The Wi-Fi network avoids the use of a wired connection to each of the Wi-Fi nodes and instead enables several nodes to cover a large geographic area (up to a few sq. miles) by interconnecting via a wireless mesh to a gateway node that has wired (or in some cases, wireless) connectivity to the Internet or other data network.
Wi-Fi being by design a low power system and prone to interference from other systems operating in the same frequency band, the area over which reliable coverage can be achieved from a Wi-Fi node is fairly limited. Therefore, achieving good coverage over large geographic areas means deploying a large number of access points or mesh nodes, which can be cost prohibitive. In addition to reliability concerns stemming from interference and weak signal and fading conditions, there is also the need to provide redundancy in case of failure, which may be achieved by having nodes with redundant or overlapping coverage areas. This also implies higher cost.
A need therefore arises for communication devices and methods that overcome the detriments described above.